Died on a ride

02/12/2019

Speed kills. We know it, but while the 42 SARS deaths in the GTA in 2003 resulted in a massive political and medical response, the 42 deaths of Toronto cyclists and pedestrians in 2018 have been greeted with relative indifference, says CBC host and luminary, Michael Enright. Best to listen to him tell the story.

02/06/2017

The Waterloo Regional Police Service investigation into the tragic cycling death of Robert Linsley continues.

Linsley is the 64-year-old man who was struck from behind on King Street near Conestoga Mall on Thursday, Feb. 2 when a motorist was entering King Street from the Highway 85 off-ramp.

The driver remained at the scene and emergency services were called, but Linsley was declared dead in hospital.

As the police continue to look for witnesses (contact Waterloo Regional Police Service Traffic Branch at 519-650-8500 ext. 8856 if you have dash-cam video of this event or were a witness), the community that knew him is grieving his loss.

The 64-year-old Linsley was an artist, author, lecturer and entrepreneur, who made his home in Waterloo Region in 2002, moving here from British Columbia to teach Fine Arts at the University of Waterloo until 2007. He was married to Yvonne Ip, a board member of the Grand Valley Society of Architects, and had three children.

His career as an abstract artist took him to showings in Barcelona and Berlin, as well as galleries in Canada.

He was a fixture in the artistic community here, where he was involved with CAFKA. He published several publications on, and lectured about, abstract art, and was a familiar figure at Communitech where, through a company he co-founded, Phototechnica, was developing technology intended for photographers who wanted to enhance lighting effects in post-production.

According to his brother, Mark, Linsley was a lifelong cyclist who chose to cycle-commute. He was on his way to his work when he was killed.

In a 2011 interview with then-arts writer of The Waterloo Region Record, Robert Reid, Linsley called himself a “big booster” of Kitchener-Waterloo, and said that he was attracted to the region when the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics opened its research program in 2001. Linsley told Reid that researchers at the institute influenced his art as he explored “the contact points between painting and theoretical physics.”

Linsley’s blog, Newabstraction.net, reviewed the work of other abstract artists, and poignantly, features two articles that were posted posthumously. Friends and family are posting condolences to his Facebook page. According to a post from his brother, Linsley’s remains will taken to B.C. for a memorial.

The police investigation, as I mentioned, is continuing.

Merges and diverges are among the great dangers for cyclists. Especially merges, where the driver entering the main roadway from a ramp will tend to check behind and to the left for overtaking traffic, without realizing that there is traffic, in the form of a cyclist, in the roadway ahead.

That is not to say that this is what happened in this instance. See the CTV report from last week for the observation that visibility was not an issue.

10/29/2015

On the surface of it, it seems as though Ross Chafe, who was hit head-on and killed by a motorist charged with drunk driving while Chafe was on a recreation ride on B.C.'s Sea To Sky Highway on May 31, is being blamed for his own death.

Chafe, who was riding with two other cyclists at the time, one of whom, Kelly Blunden, was also killed, was an experienced cyclist, former Canadian cycling team member in several World Championships. Cycling Canada issued a statement about the death and his cycling involvements at the time.

The motorist, Samuel "Farmer" Alec, 43, of Lillooet, B.C., was eventually charged with criminal negligence causing death, impaired driving causing death, driving with a blood alcohol level over 0.08, and failing to remain at the scene of an accident. He already had three convictions for impaired driver. A passenger in his car, 52-year-old Paul Maurice Pierre also died in the accident.

Once the charges were laid, Chafe's family launched a wrongful death lawsuit against Alec and the owner of the car.

So far, pretty much as you might expect. Person dies at hands of another, charges laid, lawsuit filed.

It took an odd twist Wednesday when the CBC reported that the Insurance Commission of British Columbia (ICBC) had entered as a third party into a lawsuit, arguing that Chafe might have been impaired, or might have been riding without the proper care and attention, thus sharing the blame in his own death.

This report was followed shortly by one from the Vancouver Province, saying that the ICBC had withdrawn the references to impairment, but still argued that Chafe may have contributed to his own death by having poor brakes, not being as close to the edge of the road as possible, and, somewhat incredibly, not alerting the driver that an accident might be imminent.

As you might guess, the cycling community is stirred up about this.

The ICBC is reported as saying that all avenues have to be explored in a civil proceeding. For me, it just sounds like a case of trying to blame the victim.

06/05/2014

It seems that every time I bring up the subject of cycling on city streets, someone asks me, "Aren't you scared to be on the road with cars?"

Here's the honest truth: I'm scared every time.

I'm a 200-pound guy on a 25-pound bicycle with nothing to protect me but my bicycle skills, my common sense, a styrofoam helmet and my faith in the good driving habits of thousands of motorists. All it would take would be for me to be in the wrong place when someone at the wheel of a 1,600-kilogram vehicle drops his/her coffee, or turns around to tell the kids to shut up, or takes a close look at some confusing cellphone text message, and I'm a statistic.

Yeah, I'm scared. But I know that staying at home isn't going to make the situation any better. The motoring public (often equated with the general public) has to see cyclists on the road every day. Singles, couples, groups, parents with trailers, people with groceries. I'm a fan of public cycling events, because they put bicycles on the streets, and demonstrate that streets are not the exclusive preserve of motor vehicles.

One such cycling event is Together We Travel, Cycle for Angels, which is being held for the second year, on Sunday, June 15, in Waterloo. This event has its roots in the 2012 memorial ride for Barrie Conrod, who was killed while on a Sunday ride with his wife, Heather Caron. Caron honours Conrod's memory with Cycle for Angels, but this is not the "Ride for Barrie." It's a ride about sharing the road and about building respect for all vulnerable road users.

This year's ride, to begin at the CIGI parking lot at Caroline and Erb streets in Waterloo (registration begins at 1:30 p.m.) will wend its way through Waterloo streets and finish at the Waterloo Civic Square as a part of the city's Open Streets events. There will be bicycle safety instruction for young cyclists and reflective armbands for the first 300 registrants. Participants are asked to wear a helmet and a white shirt.

07/24/2013

The sad details are coming in of two members of the Tour du Canada who were struck and killed by a pickup truck on the Trans-Canada Highway east of Thunder Bay on Tuesday. Here's a link to a Canadian Press story.

Sounds like the two, part of a group of 25 cyclists, were overtaken by the pickup, which did not leave them enough room to pass. No word on charges yet.

07/20/2013

I showed up about 90 minutes early at the Together We Travel Ride For Angels event today (Saturday), but even then, the parking lot at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo was buzzing.

Shelter tents were going up, the logistics of registration was being worked out and route marshals were trying to figure out exactly what the route was.

Together We Travel is the first in what could become an annual cycling activism event. It resulted from last year's memorial ride for Barrie Conrod, killed by an overtaking driver while he and his partner Heather Caron were out on a sunny Sunday afternoon ride on a rural Waterloo Region road. That ride drew hundreds of riders -- many who knew Barrie and Heather, many who just wanted to come out to fly the flag for safe cycling on regional roads.

This year's ride is both a continuation of the strong feelings generated by the memorial ride, and a bit of a test -- is the local cycling community willing to support a "share the road" style bicycle ride to raise awareness of cycling safety and to demonstrate how significant the local cycling community is?

My point of contact with all this was one of the organizers, my friend Vy Waller. But there are a lot of people involved, including Heather Caron, Scott Nevin of the Waterloo Cycling Club and lots of others I only know by a nod and a handshake. And (full disclosure) I was a "volunteer" at this event, helping erect the tents and tying the red armbands on riders (sorry to all those who got the armband on the right arm, instead of the left).

(Filling out the waivers at the registration desk)

If I come off sounding like a cheerleader for it, you can attribute that to my overt enthusiasm for any cycling event that puts bikes on the road.

And this one did. Hard to do a head count. Certainly, more than 200. The organizers think as many as 400. (Sunday update: organizers say there were more than 300 attending.)

There were a lot of white shirts.

And it was pretty impressive, from my position near the back of the pack, to see a long line of cyclists filling a whole lane in various roads in Waterloo with recumbents, tandems, kiddie trailers, mountain bikes, even a bike with training wheels, and ridden by children, teens, parents, singles, seniors and bike club members.

The Waterloo Region Police were on board, helping stop traffic at key intersections -- to the chagrin of some motorists, held up for a few minutes as the parade passed by, who must have wondered if all the cyclists in Waterloo Region were out Saturday night.

Thanks to the generosity of the Uptown Waterloo Jazz Festival and Waterloo's Open Streets event, the ride was able to finish at the Waterloo Public Square, parking our bikes in the middle of Willis Way and using the jazz festival stage for the short speechifying at the ride's end.

Nevin asked the riders to "get the word out there to share the road." And Caron, holding back tears, said, "Our hope for the ride is to raise awarness of cycling safety, and to lead to changes."

Sadly, it will probably take more than one ride to do this. Hope to see you out there next year.

07/19/2013

If you have a bicycle, a bicycle helmet, a white shirt and the time Saturday to help raise awareness about bicycling in our community, please come out to the Together We Travel Ride for Angels event in Waterloo.

Details: Registration at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 20 at the parking lot for the Centre of International Governance Innovation, on Father David Bauer Drive in Waterloo. It's a roughly three-kilometre ride around the Waterloo core: an urban ride with police assistance. Should be completed by 6 p.m.

This event has grown out of last year's memorial bicycle ride for Barrie Conrod, killed last year in Waterloo Region as he was out for a sunny Sunday ride with his spouse and riding partner, Heather Caron.

Together We Travel could become an annual event, to bring attention to the hazards cyclists face while sharing the road with motor vehicles, and showing motorists that the cycling community is greater than many of them may believe.

There are a couple of information sites you can visit, here at Indiegogo, where organizers are raising funds to pay for some of the costs associated with the ride; and here on Facebook, where there are details of the event. And here's the Record story from earlier this week about the ride.

06/27/2013

Conrod, you may recall, was killed last year by an SUV driver who nodded off for a second while taking his family home on a beautiful clear Sunday morning, and fatally struck Conrod, who was out for a Sunday ride with his wife, Heather Caron. (My post on the resulting court case, here.)

Caron, has, with the help of cycling friends and members of the larger cycling community, put together a three-kilometre memorial ride for Conrod, and all those cyclists who have died on a ride. Titled, Together We Travel: Ride for Angels, the event will be held Saturday, July 20 in uptown Waterloo. (Facebook page is here.) Registration is 4:15 p.m. at the CIGI parking lot in Waterloo at Caroline and Erb; the ride begins at 5:30 p.m. There will be a police escort.

Riders are asked to wear a white shirt, wear a helmet and sign an insurance waiver. There will be a collection jar to help with the insurance costs.

The intention is for riders to take the lane, and demonstrate the diversity and commitment of the cycling community in this region.

Doing so might be a tough job, in the current climate. Statistics from the minimalist National Householder Survey (which only asked cyclists how long it took to ride to work), suggest that cycling in Waterloo Region is running below the national average. According to the 2011 survey, 1.1 per cent of commuters cycled to work in Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge, compared to 1.3 per cent nationally. Since the regional numbers are an apparent drop from the 1.6 per cent recorded in 2006, this may be simply a variation due to small sample size, or it could be that commuters are giving up on bikes.

But I guess the small sample size is the point. According to the survey, some 88 per cent of regional residents drive to work. Five per cent take the buse; four per cent walk. Those of us who use transit, sidewalks, crosswalks, pedestrian islands, crossing signals or bike lanes: we're just a fraction of the population that uses the roadways, and a vocal segment of that motoring group seems to see sidewalks, crosswalks, and bike lanes as impedimentia.

Unless we want to become completely marginalized, we need to show ourselves. A white shirt and a bike ride would be one way to do that.

Caron writes in a letter to the public that:

"I hope you will join me in this short ride around downtown Waterloo. Our ride will serve as a reminder to motorists and cyclists to respect each other and remember those who have been affected. . . . The community has been so supportive to me. I can't begin to thank everyone. I hope we can continue to remember and honour until the time comes that we don’t need to promote safety on the roads. Safety for all."

04/04/2013

My thoughts are with the family of the 76-year-old cyclist who was killed today when he was clipped by a Via Rail train in Kitchener.

According to this report in The Record, the man had waited for a freight train to back out of a siding at a point where there are double tracks. When the freight train had cleared the crossing, he slipped around the gates, which were still down, and started to cross, not realizing that there was a Via Train oncoming.

The man's name has not been released by police yet. I would guess, based on the photo of the urban-style bike equipped with fenders, a light, cable lock and panniers, that he was a regular city rider, the kind you see every day.